Again, Buhari fails to publish details of looters, recovered assets

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday failed to publish details of recovered loot and culpable individuals as he promised he would during his nationwide broadcast on May 29.

Thursday’s failure made it the second time Mr. Buhari would renege on a promise he boldly made to Nigerians.

Mr. Buhari had on May 14 said in London that he would personally provide specific details of all recovered stolen public funds when he addressed Nigerians on Democracy Day and his first year in office, adding that he believed that what Nigerians were being fed through the media were not detailed enough.

“So far, what has come out, what has been recovered in whatever currency from each ministries, departments and individuals, I intend on the 29th to speak on this because all Nigerians are getting from the mass media because of the number of people arrested either by the EFCC, DSS. But we want to make a comprehensive report on the 29th,” Mr. Buhari said while attending the anti-corruption summit in London.

But during his nationwide broadcast on Sunday morning, the president only repeated familiar claims that his administration was grappling with bureaucratic hurdles that made it difficult for stolen assets to be recovered from foreign jurisdictions.

“We are also engaged in making recoveries of stolen assets some of which are in different jurisdictions. The processes of recovery can be tedious and time consuming, but today I can confirm that thus far: significant amount of assets have been recovered. A considerable portion of these are at different stages of recovery.”

Mr. Buhari, however, said he had directed the Ministry of Information to commence publication of the details, which had remained secret despite frequent claims by his government that billions of dollars had been recovered from corrupt former top government officials.

“Full details of the status and categories of the assets will now be published by the Ministry of Information and updated periodically. When forfeiture formalities are completed these monies will be credited to the treasury and be openly and transparently used in funding developmental projects and the public will be informed,” Mr. Buhari said.

Later on Sunday evening, Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information, told Nigerians that the details would be published before the end of this week.

“We will get the list but not today; before the end of the week. But I must say not with the names,” Mr. Mohammed told a live audience on Channels Television.

Mr. Mohammed’s position was reaffirmed a moment later by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, who wrote on his Twitter page that “The minister should be ready with this (details of recovered assets) when work resumes, possibly Wednesday or Thursday.”

But as at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nigerians were still expecting the promise to be fulfilled.

-Premium Times